If you are not aware of Kurt Vonnegut you should be. His article in the Guardian last saturday was fantastic writing. Speaking of the hypocrisy in American politics he writes:
For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the Beatitudes. But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course that's Moses, not Jesus. I haven't heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere.
"Blessed are the merciful" in a courtroom? "Blessed are the peacemakers" in the Pentagon? Give me a break!
Enjoy the article.
8 comments:
My favourite author. One of the saddest writers ever, but also one of the funniest.
Believe me, probably one of the scariest things about many American Christians who subscribe to muscular, Republican Christianity is that...wait for it: THEIR HEARTS REALLY SEEM TO BE IN THE RIGHT PLACE. By which I mean, they have real relationships with Jesus and strive to serve Him to the best of their abilities.
I know this may seem hard to believe for some, but I really do think this is true. My family (even immediate family) and community is full of evangelicals who really, truly, fervently believe that George Bush is a Godly, righteous, beleaguered man who loves Jesus with his whole heart. They pray openly in church about the situation in Iraq...that "freedom will win out over darkness", etc. etc.
What do we do with this? How do we explain it, not to mention deal with it? A lot of these people have active, growing spiritual lives, both personally and within their communities (outreaches to local troubled teens, prison visits, food drives, that kind of thing, just to pull some examples out of thin air). And yet their viewpoint and approach to wider world events seems so woefully, woefully....WRONG. Or at least terribly misguided.
The easy thing would be to chalk it up to pure ignorance...but you would be dumbfounded to hear some of the conversations I've had with Christian right-wingers who are fairly well-versed in current events and still think the genuinely "Christian thing to do" is to fight the "evil" terrorists by bombing the heck out of the Middle East. Like Vonnegut says, it's like the focus is somehow still on the Ten Commandments, not the Beatitudes. But how can this coexist with real, active faith and knowledge of Jesus?
It's baffling to me. I don't understand it, and I don't have any answers, that's for sure. It does constantly make one ask a lot of questions...about one's own worldview, if nothing else.
Annie B (ostracised in rural Montana, USA...for the moment)
Here is that link
Bonhoeffer is a really important reference point, thanks Garmon. I think it is interesting that 20th Century christianity discipleship has become about what you don't do as opposed to what you do.
What does it look like to follow Christ? Don't do this, don't do that...
Surely the Sermon on the mount is about more than that.
We always talk as if it's the bad things we do that separate us from God, but then Jesus in Matthew 25 lists all these good things that we don't do, and that's what condemns people.
"For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me."
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